Of Thieves and Photographs
by DocumenteKaze232111
Summary: One early morning while commuting on the public bus, Ema Skye finds herself the victim of a wallet-snatcher. Her mood goes from bad to worse from there. A certain glimmerous fop is more than understanding of a bad day... If only she could find it in her to say what she needs to say to him- thankfully, circumstances will force her to do so, whether she wants to or not.


**Author's Note**

_Now, imagine minding your own business while chatting away with your friends in the grocery market. When you gather your treat- a pint or two of chocolate ice-cream to share- and leave the store, you go to put your six dollars' change away, only to realize that your wallet, a cute little thing given to you as a gift by your mother, and holding all of your identifications, medical cards, pictures, ect., is gone. Yup, it is true- I (certainly not the first, and sadly not the last) was the victim of a wallet-snatcher. Here is a little story I drew up to help me deal with my fury. I hope my readers enjoy this story, born out of a little of life's misfortunes._

**Keep Reading, Writing, and Reviewing,**

**Serah**

_**Of Theives and Photographs**_

Ema Skye was pissed. Sorry for the abrupt and possibly offending language to all those sensitive ears out there, but really, there was no nice way of putting it.

So, for the sake of repeating the very obvious, Ema Skye was pissed.

It happened in the span of perhaps twenty- no, fifteen minutes. That was how long it took for Ema to reach her destination- the Police Precinct, which was perhaps seven or eight city blocks away from her apartment complex. It all happened during that public bus ride.

_It_ being the robbery.

Yes, folks. The great scientific Detective Ema Skye had fallen victim to a petty thief's greedy desire for petty change.

It made her feel just a little happy to know that there had only been eight or nine dollars (from her Snackoo fund) inside it. The downside, though, was that the criminal, unless he took the money out hurriedly and threw her wallet away quickly, was now in procession of her Detectives' badge, her multiple identification cards, and an emergency medical card (her elder sister, Lana's doing- Just_ in case_.)

Well, the emergency card was an easy enough fix. All she needed to do in that effect was swallow her pride, call Lana, and explain to her sister what had happened. From there, Lana would cancel the card herself and order Ema a brand new one, because that was how awesome her elder sister was.

She would have to do that after work.

As for the identification cards, Ema highly doubted that she had to do much of anything about it. Besides Lana, she did not know anyone who looked even remotely like her. There was no one who could possibly pass themselves off as her, and if they tried, well, they would be impersonating a state official (_or whatever the Hell she was supposed to call herself, anyway_) and face a hefty fine and jail time to boot...

...On second thought, hopefully they did try to pretend to be her.

Anyway, after taking that inventory, Ema quietly thanked her lucky stars that she did not believe in using those silly little plastic things people called credit cards. She found it distasteful, using "credit" to buy things she could not necessarily afford right then and there. To be sure, she owned one- just the one, mind you- but it sat collecting dust somewhere inside her junk drawer at home. She never used the thing, much to her elder sister's amusement upon the subject.

The only two things out of her stolen property she actually mourned for was her Detectives' badge- it was going to cost her a pretty penny to get it replaced- and a photograph that she kept in the wallet, just in case she was feeling lonely or just plain having a bad day. The photograph never failed to make her smile.

It had been a pretty awesome photograph, too- absolutely one of a kind. It was a small picture of herself and (dare she utter his foppish name?) Klavier Gavin. It had been during a concert of his, where she had been forced (not really 'forced'- she had actually volunteered for the job this time around, as a favor- but for the sake of appearances, she had been forced) to play security for the umpteenth time- and the last one, too, as the Gavinners broke up not long after the picture was taken.

Anyway, the photograph itself was of herself and her glimmerous fop of a boss. Klavier himself was doused in water, drenched and positively dripping with the liquid. The perpetrator had been a fellow Gavinner, whose name she could not remember. His expression was absolutely comical, and his impossibly blue eyes were wide with shock, his mouth wide open- and Ema was sitting right next to him, drenched herself (having been caught in the crossfire) but not angry- in fact, she was laughing her ass off at the dripping Prosecutor, pointing at him and everything. The picture itself had been taken by that same jokester Gavinner, and given to her as a little memento. On the back of the card was a heartfelt thank you from the band for her services to their now ex-vocalist and guitarist.

And now, according to her immense thought on the whole thing, the precious, heartfelt, and happy memory was sitting in the gutter, in a dumpster, or in the dirty hands of some filthy criminal. The thought made her stomach churn in disgust, and Ema decided it was not the stolen wallet itself that had her in such a foul mood...

...It was the thought of tarnished memories that had her pissed off.

**() : ≈ : ()**

Despite what she told certain glimmerous fops (and anyone else who asked, for that matter) Ema Skye actually liked several of the songs written by Klavier Gavin and sung by him and the rest of the Gavinners. She did not partake the buying of their memorabilia (such as t-shirts, posters, or- God forbid- tattoos) or display any other fan-girl tendencies, but she did, like any true fan, know her favorites by heart and could hum along with all the others.

_**Dooooooooo...**_

_**Do, do, do, dee, dee, dee, do, dee, do, do...**_

_**Deeeeeeeee...**_

Like that one- _Guilty Love_, sung by her own resident glimmerous fop Prosecutor of a boss. It was in her favorite of the Gavinners' countless song repertoire by far, and one song she never grew tired of hearing. She enjoyed the melody of that particular song so much, in fact, that she kept it as the man's ringtone, if ever he called her- which actually happened far less than she ever gave him credit for, especially lately.

The fop had not been so foppish for a while now, actually.

Discarding the thought with only some resemblance of worry, Ema hummed along to the lyrics as best she could without bringing attention to herself.

_**...Dee, dee, dee, do, do, dee, do...**_

_**Dee, do, dee, dee, dee,**_

_**DEE, DEE, do, DEE, DEE, do, dee-**_

_**Dooooooooo...**_

The ringtone version of _Guilty Love_ had earned an especially soft spot in her heart, and she had its glimmerous (but admittedly talented) creator to thank for that fact. Klavier had actually sent it to her as what he saw as a funny prank (along with what seemed to be a photograph of an autograph.) Although she had been cross with the boyishly-grinning Prosecutor the next time she saw him, she had actually been secretly pleased with the thoughtful message, and saved the file- both the epic ringtone and the stalker autograph.

_**Deeeeeeeee...**_

_**Dee, dee, dee, do, do, do, dee, do, dee, dee...**_

_**Dooooooooo...**_

Ema managed to chuckle at herself, despite her horrible experience riding the public bus, as the ringtone melody faded away. As she wondered idly to whose cell phone the ringtone belonged to, the melody began to play all over again...

_**Dooooooooo...**_

_**Do, do, do, dee, dee, dee, do, dee, do, do...**_

_**Deeeeeeeee...**_

...Wait a minute.

On a whim, Ema, still half-listening to the catchy tone,opened the top drawer of her desk- the drawer in which she usually kept her spare change, extra pens, pencils- basically spares of anything. She even had a spare house key inside that handy black hole. It also, incidentally, served as the place she kept her cell phone while working.

Ema cursed colorfully at her rotten luck- that ringtone was hers, and, as she had just curiously mentally explained to herself, it belonged, of course, to the glimmerous fop of a Prosecutor himself, Klavier Gavin.

She answered the call instantly and practically shouted her greeting into the receiver- "Hello!"- which earner her several odd expressions from curious Detectives to glance her away. She took a deep breath as the familiar, European-accented Klavier Gavin replied.

"_Hallo_, Fräulein Skye!" He exclaimed cheerfully from his side of the open line, not giving a hint that he had noticed that she had basically ignored his previous call. Ema found herself grinning like an idiot for no apparent reason upon hearing his accented voice.

She chalked it down to relief.

"Duty calls,_ ja_, Detective?" Klavier said, by way of explanation, "I am in need of assistance at a crime scene near the old apartment buildings downtown. We are curiously under-staffed at the moment, and I happened to notice your absence. Would you, by chance, be willing to drop by? I could certainly use the extra- "

"Yes! Of course I- " Ema was already gathering her things when she interrupted him, and froze mid-sentence when she remembered a tiny little fact that made it impossible to commit to such a thing for the cheerful man.

She had no way to get downtown.

The embarrassed Detective, feeling her earlier anger at her unknown thief from that morning slowly returning, announced her rather sudden change of heart with due, slightly-shaking grace.

"...U-uh."

"_Was_?" Klavier replied, ever-cheerfully. Ema found herself smiling for no reason again. "Is something the matter, Fräulein Skye?"

There was absolutely no way in Hell she was going to admit to the dazzling Prosecutor that she had been robbed. But then, he was her boss, and he had all but ordered her to a crime scene. She could not exactly tell the man that she simply did not want to go, now, could she? Ema bit her lip and replied as craftily as a non-experienced liar could.

"I don't have a way to get downtown at the moment." Pathetic excuse, but she rolled with it with a weak shrug, feigning distress, adding in what she thought was convincing excuse for the fact. "Uh- I took a bus this morning- " Sadly enough, that unusual bus ride had cost her a lot more than it should have- "And there was an unannounced route change."

There was a pause as Klavier digested the unexpected news.

"_Nein,_ that will not do!" He suddenly exclaimed, nearly causing Ema to jump out of her skin in fright- did he know that she had just lied to him? But how? He did not know the bus routes by heart, did he? That would be way too creepy- but then, he was a Prosecutor...

Just as Ema felt as though she were about to have a panic attack, she heard a strange, slightly muffled, snapping noise. It took her a moment to realize that it had been Klavier himself, snapping his fingers. The noise continued for a minute or so- and a still-smiling Ema blinked with a second realization; he was thinking of a solution to her current predicament.

"Aha!" Ema jumped again at his triumphant, jubilant cry of victory. Klavier, obviously unaware of her uncharacteristic jumpiness, continued excitedly, "Fräulein Skye, if I managed to grant you transportation with another Detective, would you feel comfortable tagging along with him to the scene?"

"Well, yeah," Ema answered instantly, for once grateful for his uncanny ability to pull strings- before, of course, she realized just what he was implying and what she had just unthinkingly agreed to. She added quickly- "Wait a second- just who are you- ?"

Klavier interrupted her with a characteristic, really unsurprising, hearty laugh. "_Gib mir einen Moment, bitte,_" The Prosecutor chortled, obviously happy with his inspiration, "You will have your transportation ready in just a second."

And, before Ema could demand answers to whatever this brilliant idea of his entailed for her, the line went dead.

Moments later, before she could even process what had just occurred, she heard, just a few desks down to where she currently stood, shock-still, a shrill ringtone that sounded oddly familiar to her, begin to play.

_**Dee, dee, DEE, dee, dee, dee, DEE!**_

_**Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,**_

_**Dee, doo, dee, dee, doo, dee, **_

_**DO, DO, do, do, do, do, do, dee, do-**_

_**DEE! DEE! DEE!**_

The familiar ringtone was answered by a decidedly familiar voice, too.

"...Yeah, pal?"

**() : **** : ()**

It turned out that Dick Gumshoe liked the Gavinners, too. Ema Skye found that fact to be amusing, considering that the lovable, clumsy Detective was probably in his early to mid-forties, and the Gavinners' music was aimed at teenaged girls and young adult women. (Then again, she relented, as she and Gumshoe made their way to the crime scene, Lana enjoyed classical music, which was primarily aimed at long dead people with funny accents and old people, so she supposed Gumshoe's love of the music was understandable.)

Her good mood went down the drain, as per usual with this day, when they came across the Detective guarding the line. He was some idiot newbie (at least, she hoped he was, with the way he screamed at the two recognizable Detectives with that infernal megaphone he carried.) She only somewhat recognized him, even when she read his name-tag, Mike Meekins.

"**IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE**!" Meekins screamed at them.

_Well, shit. _

While Gumshoe rubbed the back of his neck and flashed his badge to the over-zealous Detective, Ema hid her embarrassed grimace and pretended to looked for her badge, all the while knowing it was probably in a rubbish bin by now.

"Uh- " She began weakly, trying to give him some half-baked excuse as to why she was not carrying her badge, but Meekins, apparently, was not so much the idiot he liked to advertize himself to be. He knew enough not to let her in without her badge, at least.

"**NO IDENTIFICATION, NO PASSAGE!**"

She looked to her side for assistance, but since luck had decided to desert her that particular day, Gumshoe had disappeared into the crime scene already, likely not even noticing her absence in his haste to get away from Meekins and his monstrosity of a megaphone.

"**I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ASK YOU TO LEAVE! MISS!**" She could have sworn that Meekins was actually enjoying deafening her. He was, after all, grinning like the bloody it idiot he was. "**IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR LEAVE THE PREMISES! I REPEAT! MISS! PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR-** "

"All right already!" She yelled back, throwing her arms up in the air in surrender, "Alright! I'm leaving!" She obviously had no choice, even though she had absolutely no way of getting back to the precinct. "Keep your damn hat on! Sheesh!"

"**PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR LEAVE THE PREMISES, SIR!**"

Ema's eye twitched. _Sir? Sir?!_ Anyone who knew her would know that this was a sign of pure rage. Unfortunately for Meekins, he was not privy to that fact. By God, she would show the bloody fool_ sir_-

"Senior Prosecutor Klavier Gavin, Herr Meekins."

Ema yelped in surprise and spun on her heel to find the owner of that extremely familiar name and that even more familiar, accented European voice. He was standing just behind her, smiling his cheerful smile. His trademark, impossibly blue eyes, however, were hidden by dark violet sunglasses...

...Wait. Did Klavier Gavin just say _Senior_ Prosecutor? When had he been promoted?

Why in the Hell did she not know that her boss had been promoted?

"Detective Skye, I see my idea went brilliantly." He greeted her, stowing his wallet- which was a vibrant violet in color and boldly carrying a gold 'G' on the front of it- into his back pocket. "Go on, Fräulein," He encouraged, "Show him your badge, and let us begin our investigation, ja?"

He winked. Ema would have normally Snackoo'd him for that, but alas, she had none handy. Nor, of course, did she have her badge. Or any identification. Or an emergency medical card.

Goddamn that goddamn thief who stole her goddamn wallet.

"**MISS!**" There Meekins went with the megaphone again. Unwillingly, but in fright at the sudden noise, she jumped. To her surprise, Klavier did not (he did look mildly surprised, though, which somewhat made up for it.) "**PLEASE IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR LEAVE THE-** "

Suddenly, Klavier moved- faster than she thought humanly possible, he moved- in front of her and very effectively silenced the megaphone by (_ingeniously!_) flicking the _off_ switch on the handle. He also flicked it to the ground below their feet for good measure.

"Enough of that," Klavier tsked at the shocked Meekins, his voice suddenly void of all its usual and characteristic cheer, "The pretty Fräulein is a Detective under my direct supervision. I am all the identification she needs. Now, Herr Meekins," He added as an afterthought, "Unless you are willing to take a very satisfying cut of salary for very effectively causing an annoying buzzing in my ear, you will make as the housefly, and shoo- preferably before I decide to swat you, ja?"

Klavier's expression was scary calm, and it worked wonders, too- Meekins all but wet his boxers in fear. He quickly dashed away from his rather irate superior.

The Prosecutor- or rather, the Senior Prosecutor- was still tsking under his breath as he motioned to Ema to follow him into the crime scene. Ema could not understand most of what he was saying, as he was speaking very quickly in what she recognized as German.

He only ceased his tsking when their victim came into full view.

Was it Ema's imagination, or was Klavier Gavin acting stranger than normal?

**() : **** : ()**

After a few hours of investigating, a rather tired Ema Skye found herself ready to go home. She lagged in her office, though, toying with her phone for ten minutes before finally, nervously dialing the desired number.

_**Do, do, do, do, DEE, **_

_**Dee, dee, dee, dee, DO...**_

_**Do, do, dee,**_

_**Dee, dee, dee, dee, do...**_

Ema loved the ringtone her elder sister had chosen for her. According to Lana, if she hummed the soft tune to a fussing Ema, she would instantly hush to listen to it. If she were sleepy, Ema would hum the tune herself, prompting a very attentive Lana to tuck her into bed. The only downside to having the melody as a ringtone was that Lana usually answered her phone quickly, if not a bit hastily when Ema was involved. Lana was a worrywart like that.

"Oh, Ema!" Her elder sister sounded a bit surprised to hear from her, but very gracious with her greeting anyway.

"Uh, hi, sis," Ema answered hesitantly.

Lana had a nose for trouble. She had once been an ace Detective, after all. It came as no surprise to Ema when her sister's voice went from cheerful to serious. "What's wrong?"

As Ema had promised herself, she swallowed her pride and timidly allowed the whole bus-robbery story to spill out. After she had finished telling the whole sorry tale, Lana let out a quiet chuckle before replying, not altogether jokingly, "You need to invest in a new mode of transportation."

"Sis!" Ema pouted.

Lana chuckled again. "I'll cancel that emergency card right now," Lana assured her sister, "And I'll order a new one for you, too. Until then, try not to experiment with anything too dangerous, okay?"

"What about the badge?"

"You'll have to talk to your supervising Prosecutor about that," Lana replied swiftly. Ema heard typing in the background- Lana was probably canceling the card as she spoke. The thought made Ema smile. Lana had taken the news so calmly; if their situations were reversed, Ema would have likely have panicked and given herself a heart attack or something. "As far as I remember," Lana added, "There's some kind of replacement fee."

"I know that much," Ema sighed. "Great. Now I have to go talk to the fop."

There was a pause, and the Detective could have sworn that Lana was chuckling again. Her suspicion was confirmed when Lana spoke- her voice was laden with humor. "I heard from a little birdie that your Prosecutor Gavin had been promoted. Is that true?"

"He's not my anything, and you've been talking to Mr. Edgeworth again," Ema accused her elder sister. Miles Edgeworth had become rather friendly with her elder sister lately, and he would have known about Klavier's promotion, too- he was a Senior Prosecutor in the same building, after all.

Lana's somewhat nervous laugh confirmed her suspicions. Ema thought about teasing her about the whole thing, but thought better of it. Instead, Ema told her sister, "I actually just found out about his promotion today. Normally, the fop would have been over the moon about something like that, but..." She trailed off thoughtfully. "I guess he's finally shedding off that rock-star persona of his."

"Hm," Lana replied ambiguously. "I suppose so." When Lana did that, Ema knew she was probably missing something. It was just like Lana to hide things from her sister that she thought Ema needed to figure out herself. Before Ema could interrogate her sister further, however, Lana continued speaking. "Anyway, the card hasn't been used, just in case you were worried. It's canceled, and a new one should be on the way. In the meantime, you should talk to Mr. Gavin about your stolen badge and get a replacement."

Ema groaned childishly, and Lana chuckled, admonishing her gently, "From what Miles has told me, Mr. Gavin treats everyone under his supervision very fairly. I'm sure he'll understand your dilemma."

The Detective had to agree, and so, defeated, she sighed again. "Oh, alright. I'll go talk to the fop."

**() : **** : ()**

According to popular lounge belief, Klavier Gavin had been pulling far later hours than normal. He had also, Ema had added, been taking more than his share of cases lately, although had to admit that she rarely saw more than her normal share of paperwork. The man was rarely seen outside the courtroom, and when he was, it was at an investigation scene or inside his office. These odd habits begged the question...

...Was the guy working cases all by himself? That was actually a perk to being a Senior Prosecutor- being allowed to do things without someone breathing down your neck.

These thoughts on her mind, she knocked on the door leading into Klavier's office.

His answer was instant. "It is unlocked- enter." His voice was slightly muffled, the sound blocked by the door, but Ema managed to hear it. She opened the door carefully, wary of the usual post-bombshell mess that was usually his office, but was surprised (and perhaps a little intimidated) to see that she was able to see the carpet, for the first time in the year that she had gone in and out of the office. It was actually a pleasant purple in color.

Go figure.

"Ah, Fräulein Skye," Klavier greeted her cheerfully, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He was standing by the window, leaning against one of the beams that supported it, and held what must have been a dozen different papers in his hand- he must have been reading a file just before Ema knocked on his door. He was smiling at her, impossibly blue eyes bright with his curiosity- Ema never willingly walked into his office before, much less without any sort of file to give him.

"Erm," She began smartly. She had to look away, flushing brightly, when Klavier chuckled, "I need to talk to you. It's- uh, important."

"In that case," Klavier replied patiently, "_Gib mir einen Moment, bitte._" Before Ema had the time to respond, he had already begun to move, casually placing his papers on the corner of his desk. He did not, however, sit down- instead, he crossed the room to meet the Detective. He smiled at the somewhat startled Ema.

"Ah, much better. Now, what seems to be the issue, Detective Skye?"

"Well, I- uh... This morning, I..." Ema stumbled over her words, causing the Prosecutor to tilt his head just a bit to the side in confusion.

"_Ja_...?"

Ema rubbed the back of her neck. "It's my badge," She blurted, and Klavier rose his eyebrows, "My wallet was stolen this morning on the bus..."

She launched into an explanation of the day's events, explaining what had happened that morning, admitted to lying to him about not having a way to get herself to the crime scene, and apologized for the mess she had caused when she did manage to get to the scene. When she finished (the entire story taking her about ten minutes to tell) she had to give the fop his credit- he had not interrupted her once.

"So," Klavier said conversationally, as Ema caught her breath, crossing his arms against his chest, still wearing that patient expression, "What you are trying to tell me is, you need a replacement badge." Upon hearing his simple deduction, Ema hung her head.

"Yeah. I do."

"Consider it taken care of."

Startled, Ema looked up at the Prosecutor, who had already turned away from her and returned to his desk, picking up a pen and jotting down a quick note on a stray piece of paper. "Until you receive another badge, Fräulein Skye, I will simply do as I did this morning. I doubt anyone will kick up a fuss about it- you do agree, ja?"

He smiled at her, and Ema could not help but smile uncertainly back. Unable to think of anything else to say, though, she simply replied with a nod, "Thanks, Gavin. I owe you one."

To her surprise, Klavier shook his head. "Do not mention it," He smiled his charming smile when he noticed her flabbergasted expression, continuing his train of thought in explanation, "You had a bad day- everyone can relate to that. _Ich weiß, ich kann_."

Ema rose an eyebrow. "What was that last part?"

Klavier blinked- then added hastily, having realized his slip of the tongue, "I said, _I know I can_. My apologies."

"Oh."

There was a pause, in which the two stared awkwardly at each other, each waiting for the other to speak again. After several moments, Klavier did speak, saying, still more awkwardly, "Ah, if that is all...?"

Ema felt herself flushing again, "Oh, yeah," She cleared her throat, much to Klavier's amusement, "Uh, I think I'll- er, let you get back to work, then, Gavin."

_"Danke,_ Fräulein Skye." Klavier turned around again, crossing the room and picking up his file again. He returned to his place at the window and flipped to the page he had been reading before Ema's intrusion. "Übrigens, your replacement badge should arrive within three working days, so you will have it by Friday at the latest. No harm done, Detective... Although," He added teasingly, "I suggest you be more careful with your possessions."

"It's not like I wanted my wallet to be stolen!" Ema snapped at him. Klavier's head snapped up, surprise in his expression. Blinking, Ema grimaced and hastily tried to apologize, "I'm sorry," She tried, "I don't know where that came from- "

"_Nein, nein,_" Klavier interrupted calmly, one eyebrow still raised, "It was a bad joke... Tell me, besides the badge, what else did you lose?"

Ema bit her lip. "Just a few dollars, a few identification cards, an emergency card- it's already been taken care of," She added hastily, seeing the flash of concern cross his expression, continuing, "Other than that, nothing else, really... Except the... " She managed to cut herself off before saying the word photograph, but the serious expression on Klavier's face told her that the small slip of the tongue did not go unnoticed.

"Except the...?" He pressed, giving her his famous stare at the witness until they break Prosecutor stare.

"The photo, okay? The one that I got at your last concert. The one with you- "

"I know which one you are talking about," Klavier interrupted her. Apparently, she had managed to surprise him- his voice sounded rather startled. "You had that old thing in your wallet?" He did not sound skeptical, just surprised. "I assumed you threw it away or gave it to a fan. Why would you keep- ?"

"It was a gift," Ema interrupted him sternly, startling the Prosecutor once more with the force of her disapproving glare, "Besides," She added, smiling fondly, "It was a great picture."

"I take it the photograph was a rather precious item to you?"

"Well, yeah," Ema admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, "I really liked the picture. It sucks that I've gone and lost it. Too bad, huh? It's probably in the gutter somewhere."

Klavier said nothing for the longest time- if not for the fact that he blinked every once in a while, Ema would have thought that he had taken to ignoring her presens. When he finally did speak, he did so rather quietly. "I have the same photograph, Fräulein. I could give it to you, if you would like?"

Ema was touched by the offer, but she could not accept it. Surely, by the way he was smiling sadly, he held the photograph in high esteem, too. "It's yours- " She began, but he shook his head.

"Nein, I can always ask its artist for another copy," He told her, still smiling that same, sad smile, "Besides, you seem to treasure it so. It would be my pleasure, and no trouble at all."

"I- I guess..."

Ema watched as Klavier crossed the room once more, kneeling as he opened the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled out a frame with her photograph inside it. He stood up slowly, looking at it and chuckling to himself. "She did not mean to drench you, you know. She meant to only prank me, but you were at the wrong place at the wrong time." He crossed the room and handed her the frame, smiling, "Keep frame, too. You should keep it in your office- it is much less likely to be taken from you, ja?"

"Yeah... Thanks, fop. You're not half bad, you know?"

Klavier chuckled again. "I try not to be bad at all," He told her, humor in his impossibly blue gaze, "Occasionally, though, it slips. We are all human."

"Except petty thieves."

The Prosecutor shrugged. "There are much worse crimes one could commit," He rebutted patiently, still smiling his charming smile, "Though I apologize that you fell victim to one yourself... Which reminds me. Do you have a ride home?"

"Is that an offer, fop?"

Klavier returned the grin instantly. "Only if you want it to be."

Ema felt herself smiling again, and this time she made no attempt to hide it, deciding that perhaps today was not so bad after all.

**() : ≈ : ()**

**Author's Note**

_And that will do it. I may have to come back and rewrite this one, actually. It depends on what you guys think. I feel as though I left a plot-bunny in here- not to mention, the ending is kind of a fail. What do you think, my lovely little reader? Do not hesitate to tell me!_

**Keep Reading, Writing, and Reviewing,**

**Serah**


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